Bengaluru, 19 Nov  

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah indicated that the State government was willing to increase the reservation quota for backward classes to 70-75 per cent. 

Speaking at an event on Wednesday to commemorate 50 years of the LG Havanur Backward Classes Commission report, Siddaramaiah said “Our government is ready to accept and implement the economic, social, and educational report. It is also interested in increasing the reservation quota to 70-75 percent. As long as I have breath, as long as I am in politics, I will stand for social justice.” 

Former chief minister Devaraj Urs had called the Havanur Report the Bible of the backward classes, Siddaramaiah noted. Havanur submitted the report to Urs in 1975.

“Those who have benefited from the caste system are the ones strengthening it,” Siddaramaiah said. “The backward classes still haven't come out of the slave mentality.” 

He added that Rahul Gandhi’s ideological commitment had pushed the Centre into announcing a nationwide caste census.

“The other day, he asked me too, What happened to your census?” the Chief Minister said.

Siddaramaiah also tore into the BJP-RSS combine, calling them the enemy of backward classes. 

“What can one say to them when the backward classes, including Dalits and the Shudra community, keep joining their enemies, the BJP - RSS - ABVP?” he said.  “Even though they know that the BJP-RSS ideology is the enemy of the backward classes, they keep going and joining them... For selfish reasons.” 

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on X praised the Hanavur Commission, calling it “the turning point for social justice in Karnataka” and noted that Hanavur was part of the famed Mandal Commission.